Some good suggestions thus far. The classic "X-block" application is a shot to the throat then doing a lapel choke. ST9 is a pretty nice shot for this. When applying the lapel choke you can also roll your knuckles up and into the stomach meridian from ST10 up to ST9. Also when doing the x-block into ST9, hitting in and up at a 45 degree will take the body up onto the balls of the feet and destroying the posture completely, a lapel grab combined with bringing the hands back towards the hips adds a lot of power to a headbutt.

Another application is to step to the outside of punch and attacking into the SP21 area with the lower hand in and down which will arch the body over for a lovely shot to TW17 or GB20 with the other fist.

Top stuff guys. Brian, hopefully thats given you some stuff to think about!

I love hitting people in the neck too! There are some factors that make it lots of fun. One is density. There are so many points in the neck that if you go in with a large weapon like your forearm, you have to hit something. Go for the edges of the lines of muscles.

Secondly, many neck points can be hit from more than one direction. LI 18 for example, my early reading from DKI sources always said hit it straight in towards the opposite LI 18. However, I've had very good results hitting it down and in. More is known about these points than was known in the past.

A third factor to consider is that the neck is very likely to be in motion. Therefore, your target has to be robust enough, either because you've had success with multiple directions or because there are so many points around, that the movement can be forgiven.

I think the most important factor in getting successful neck strikes is how you are directing energy with your mind. My latest neck practice is with LI 17. I'm directing it towards the core of the body or toward the opposite Lv 13. Hit the opposite Lv 13 at the same time and uke will get a real sick feeling of electricity right through his core.

A poster in the kata forum asked about the u punch,better known as the double punch. It's basically a cross torso punch,one high and one low 45degrees across from eachother. What would be some good striking points for this move? What does it do?

_________________________
The2nd ammendment, it makes all the others possible. <///<

To be honest mate I think this pretty much the same as the "X-Block" in terms of striking, only that more emphasis is being place on the striking aspects of the movement. I suppose it could be looked at very much "Yin and Yang" point of view....attacking opposites..hitting higher will weaken the lower, hitting lower will weaken the higher. Same with left and right. Also when looking at bunkai just because the shots are targets at the torso does not always mean the is where we will be targetting. Just because they are aimed at our torso level, we have to think about where we are striking in relation to the level of our opponent....they could be hunched over, for example.

In a lesson I had with Russell the other week he also made an interesting point about the fact that when we see an extended fist we automatically assume its a strike. He said that these movements can often been used as grabs...limbs, joint attacks and cavity attacks, but also as skin and hair pulls. A bit off topic I know, but thought it might interest.